221–230 of 546 posts
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For many of them, we get to use their services for free. That's the arrangement.
Not all. Certainly not brokers serving the ad industry, credit bureaus, and retailers. And for others such as Google business services and Microsoft, we pay them. Even for the "free" services, is it a fair exchange of value?
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Each of your complaints is because of a well-designed compromise (app quality/safety; preventing abrupt phone shutdown; removing a common failure point). You may disagree with the compromises, sure. PS: I own zero Apple devices (partly because of the reasons you have, not for the way you are misrepresenting those reasons).
Apple's App Store policies are about far more than app quality or safety. Apple has banned many apps for political or financial reasons. Slowing down old phones without notice or permission wasn't the best response to aging batteries. Even Apple didn't deny it was wrong. They apologized, once they were caught. And the MagSafe connector was not a common failure point.
I don't know what criteria they actually use, but this is at best incredibly inconsistent. There's heaps of competing mail apps, calendars, camera apps, photo apps, weather apps, notes apps, reminders app, messaging apps on iOS, including a Google one in most of those categories.
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I thought they were a design/branding company -- what proportion of hardware do they make themselves. Again I thought they outsourced [most of] that?
> I thought they were a design/branding company A design/branding company that designs their own chips? Sure then they are a design company. A company that builds brands, also sure. What proportion of hardware do they have to "make" themselves to be considered a hardware producer? Having TSMC fab silicon doesn't make Apple any less of a hardware company than BMW not being a car company because they buy ECU's from Bos…
So, if Apple make [all] their own hardware except the silicon then you could have answered the question rather than composing a strawman.
Yes, if BMW don't make their own electrical systems it makes them less of a car company. Is that controversial to you? It's supremely sensible for a company to buy expertise by outsourcing elements of manufacture of complex products IMO.
It's sad how the introduction of a new class of devices "smartphones" brought along with it a surveillance software platform in the form of Android. Where it is clear that the only incentive for google to develop it is exfiltration of as much personal data as they can. In contrast in the case of Apple you have a customer relationship with the company that sold you the device and they have an incentive to keep you as…
I hear what you are saying and agree in the sense that a lot of this is being misused by people who want to take advantage of what they know about you/us in whatever shape or form they can get the data to get away with. Chinas use of data is definitely not the way to go. However, I would also caution against the push for almost complete privacy as that IMO leaves out a number of potential advantages from systems havi…
Siri/iOS/macOS/etc are proof that “smart” services can be done on-device and/or without identifying information and still be useful.
Google does it all server side because it’s the cash cow their entire business is built on, not because it’s the only way to do it.
The only problem is that Apple is the Mercedes of mobile devices. We really need a Honda and Kia version, a more affordable device that doesn’t track you. Apple is never going to give up their premium position.
why not just buy an older device? bought a brand new iPhone se as soon as the new iphones x maxx was announced. mobile phone development as plateaued imo, there is nothing out there you really need unless you're fooling yourself. photos - I bought a nice mirrorless with the money I saved. apps - se runs everything tolerably fast except for snapchat and Instagram, which I've decided to cut down on anyways.comparison i…
As devices age, they stop being supported by security updates.
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Dubious proposition. Many programmers work to solve political problems through technological means. TOR is an example of this.
You can’t solve a political problem through technological means, you can only provide workarounds. Geeky, awkward workarounds. TOR is an example of this.
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As far as I understand this, correct me if this is wrong, this means the content of your messages is encrypted. There is still important data to fetch about who you talk to, how much and when.
Indeed. Besides, the app itself has access to the full content of your conversations so what happens in-between is pretty much irrelevant.
I like Tim Cook, I think his heart is in the right place and as much as a corporation can, Apple generally does the right thing. I was having lunch with several lawyers at my company a few weeks ago. One of them was talking strongly about quality devices and Apple’s strong privacy stance. He literally said that we as a society should be grateful for having Apple.
Perhaps it is cynicism, but I'm pretty sure this is just Apple exploiting a competitive edge, and does not necessarily reflect his own opinion, he is speaking to benefit the company. Of course, it's very nice that Apple made the decision to pick this edge, but they did it because they could not compete with Google on web services. So now they're publicly speaking to try and take the sting out of Google's edge. And th…
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why not just buy an older device? bought a brand new iPhone se as soon as the new iphones x maxx was announced. mobile phone development as plateaued imo, there is nothing out there you really need unless you're fooling yourself. photos - I bought a nice mirrorless with the money I saved. apps - se runs everything tolerably fast except for snapchat and Instagram, which I've decided to cut down on anyways.comparison i…
>why not just buy an older device? As devices age, they stop being supported by security updates.
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Apple's stance has been completely consistent. They comply with the law while making their ethical beliefs and stance as a company clear where they disagree with it. What do you suggest Apple should do instead of comply with the law? Require it's employees to incriminate themselves?
I agree, and you can also tell that Apple is on the right side of this because of that FBI phone unlocking case. Apple fought the government tooth and nail, and they made it literally impossible to do for later models of phones. That whole incident really impressed me. Of the "giant evil megacorporations that will dominate our cyberpunk future", I think Apple has slightly more moral sense and backbone compared to Goo…